PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Kjell Isaksson was once the world’s best pole vaulter.
Now he pays tribute to today’s world star Armand “Mondo” Duplantis.
– That is why he is so good, Isaksson tells Sportbibeln.
At the end of the 60s and throughout the 70s Kjell Isaksson, 75, Sweden’s leading pole vaulter. He also held the world record for several months in 1972, and has thus also been on top of the world.
The tribute to Duplantis
Today it is Armand Duplantis, 23, who rules and sets the world of pole vaulting. Mondo has broken world records upon world records and jumps higher than anyone in history as well as contemporary competitors. Kjell Isaksson follows the 23-year-old’s career closely.
– He is ‘outstanding’. Above all is that he jumps exactly the same every jump. Out of all his competitions, maybe three or four jumps have been different, that he got too close in his set or something like that. But otherwise it’s the same, the same, the same, all the time. And that’s why he’s so good. While the others, they are a bit all over the place, says Kjell to Sportbibeln.
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Sergey Bubka is another great pole vaulter. He has won ten WC golds, six outdoors and four indoors, and one EC and one Olympic gold. The Ukrainian broke the outdoor pole vault world record 17 times. But Isaksson thinks that Duplantis is bigger than Bubka.
– It is him because he has jumped higher. And before Mondo jumped his first world record, nobody jumped at those heights at all, people weren’t even close to jumping over six meters. Then suddenly he came and skipped 6.20 all the time. So he is outstanding.
The reflection on the achievement gold
How high do you think Duplantis can jump?
– When he took 6.23 now, he was high above before the bar, so he will jump at least five centimeters higher. Maybe up to 6.30, I think so, says Kjell.
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There are many sporting achievements from the year that are discussed before the awarding of the achievement gold. Armand’s world record is one of them. Another is Daniel Ståhls WC gold in the discus, which he took on the last throw. Kjell Isaksson has a hard time deciding, but sees the downside to Duplanti’s chances of winning.
– The problem with Mondo is that he is always among the best, and when he breaks the world record it’s like “aha… he broke the world record”. If Ståhl does something, it’s like “Ouch!”.
– If you judge it as a feat, then Ståhl’s discus throw was more of a feat than Mondo’s world record because it was almost a bit expected, whereas Ståhl had to do it on the last throw, it was a feat after all. But the achievement medal has become a bit… sometimes there is not so much achievement in the result. So they have a bit of a problem choosing there, says Kjell.
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